Families await landslip all-clear

Both spent a second night in a hotel after a landslip swallowed up the gardens of their homes above where a giant tunnel boring machine was at work.

Residents have accused bosses at the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) of ignoring their warnings about disused water wells thought to have been disturbed by the tunnelling work beneath them.

About 50 people were forced to evacuate Lavender Street, in Stratford, east London, on Saturday when a 10 metre wide hole appeared across two back gardens, sparking fears that homes could collapse.

Some 35 residents from 10 households were put up in local hotels on Saturday night by the CTRL while others went to stay with family and friends.

All but two of the households evacuated had been allowed to return to their houses by last night.

Hundreds of tonnes of concrete were poured into the deep gap on Saturday night and investigators and surveyors continue to study how the landslip occurred.

It is thought that one or two redundant 19th century wells could have collapsed following underground tunnelling work for the £5.2 billion project to link Ashford, Kent with the new international rail terminus at St Pancras.

In the nearby Sarah Bonnell School, residents expressed their anger after it emerged that CTRL and Newham Council may have known the wells existed.

Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Mandalina Stepniewska said meetings had been held with both parties over the last few years and they had known of the wells for about the last 18 months.